About

What is Carnies: Traveling Meat Circus?

"Carnies" is a 12-episode web series taking you behind the scenes into the world of professional and competitive BBQ.

Where will we go?

We've mapped out a pretty ambitious route, artistically represented in our logo design. We will depart from Decatur, AL and first head North towards Maine via Hershey, PA (we must convince the children that the entire trip will be just like Hershey Park. It won't). From there, we will head South towards North Carolina, beginning the more traditional leg of our BBQ journey. Expect to see stops in the legendary regions-Carolinas, Texas, Kansas City and Tennessee, but some must-see stops in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arizona and Idaho too. "Carnies" will take you into the pits of some of the best bbq spots, new and old, show you one-on-one interviews with our favorite pit masters, bbq critics and restaurateurs, visit the factories of our most loved products and equipment and out to the ranches and farms where the best BBQ really gets its start.

Competition BBQ is like a weekly family reunion of #bbqfamily, and we will introduce you to the circuit and the culture of competitive BBQ, as we compete ourselves in a kosher BBQ competition in KC, the legendary Murphysboro BBQ cook-off in Illinois and Que and Crews in Louisa, Virginia. Expect to see some impromptu BBQ classes and cooking videos too direct from our RV site, hopefully with many of you out visiting with us!

What might a typical episode look like?

A typical, 20-minute episode of "Carnies" will include footage from one to three stops, which might include a class we teach at the Big Green Egg Headquarters, a tour of the Tabasco factory and an on-site BBQ with our friends up in Boise at Snake River Farms. The idea is to immerse the viewer in the culture of Que!

There is no vegetarian option

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Big Top turns Big Flop

Budget-We have estimated it will cost $3 per mile for us to film Carnies. The bulk of the expenses will be travel costs, such as fuel and camping fees, as well as production expenses, which includes everything from food to paper towels to a new GoPro. See the breakdown below:

Budget Breakdown

So all of you know that we have some skin in the game too, we each just sold our "extra" kidney in order to buy this bad boy! (Disclaimer: no actual kidneys were harvested in the procurement of this recreational vehicle)

Our Land Yacht, "Yahtzee"

Below is our list of "Tour Dates". These are the places we will spend more than just an overnight, and will be filming at our site. If you live in the area, we would LOVE for you to come out and join us! As we move about the country, we will keep everyone updated with our location and ETAs for each city via social media.

Tour Dates

Here is a link to the more detailed calendar that we will continue to finalize during our campaign:

Dates that are highlighted in green are BBQ classes, red is for competitions and yellow is for invitation-only events we will be hosting on site.

Risks and challenges

Every road trip has its unique challenges, and ours will be amplified by our traveling companions and all the inherent variables that accompany live cooking. We don't take ourselves too seriously, and it wouldn't be much of a circus without the preschoolers. Additionally, we have the potential for mechanical failures and weather delays, and we have included both a time and financial cushion in our estimates.

The sheer volume of footage we will have at the end of the ten weeks will probably feel a bit overwhelming. Editing it all down to twelve, fifteen-minute episodes is going to be a challenge, but we have some really great resources available to us, and we intend to use all of them!